On June 1, 2022, I was pleased to meet with members of the Beltsville Lions Club to introduce my campaign for State Senate in Legislative District 21. After dinner, I spoke briefly about my message to voters for a change of direction in the Maryland General Assembly. As a life-long innovator in the field of scientific education, and Maryland citizen, I have been especially appalled by the destructive, political nature of public education in our state. In my after-dinner comments, I pointed out the need to correct this situation by providing greater parent choice in education. In this way, quality and value would naturally emerge in public education through the normal function of competition and choice in the free market, non-government economy. By contrast, the current centralized system, built on coercion, censorship, and monopoly, only breeds corruption and lack of accountability, such as recently reported in the review of grade-fixing in the Baltimore City school system. According to a recent ABC news article, the Maryland Inspector General in its review of the Baltimore City Schools “found 12,542 examples where high school grades were changed from failing to passing between 2016 and the end of the 2019-2020 school year." Sadly, this is only the latest evidence in a long history of failure and mismanagement in the governance of education in Maryland. Without a fundamental change of direction, this deplorable situation in public education will only get worse by the reckless, irresponsible funding increases and policy mandates set in motion by the current General Assembly. In my campaign, I hope to raise this and other issues with many such community groups as the Beltsville Lions Club, to better understand and represent the needs and interests of average citizens in our district. Happily, my prior 2018 campaign has already allowed me to meet many voters here who have come to know my background and civic involvement over the years. In addition, growing up in College Park, I also have a long-standing personal knowledge of the local communities, such as nearby Beltsville, since my father was employed as a horticulturist at the Beltsville Plant Industry Station. While I realize that voting for change from the incumbent slate candidates will be difficult for some, I believe that, after the recent two-year ordeal with the Covid pandemic and economic lock-down, many voters are now more receptive to my message of greater individual choice and economic freedom for the citizens, for a change. Since there is no contest in the primary elections for state senate in legislative district 21, the race will be decided at the General Election in November, 2022. So, from now until then, I will be offering my message of freedom to voters as widely as possible. For more information, and to follow up, visit my website, www.havisforsenate.com or contact me directly at lee@havisforsenate.com
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